


Keep Me Warm

by 27dragons



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, M/M, Sharing a Bed, Snowed In
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-20
Updated: 2020-12-20
Packaged: 2021-03-10 22:08:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,243
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28194459
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/27dragons/pseuds/27dragons
Summary: “That sucks. Wait. It sucks? I thought you were kind of bummed about not getting to see your family for the holidays.”“Yeah, but I wanted to see them at home, where I could go into my room andclose the doorwhen I need a break,” Bucky grumbled. “But instead it’ll be in some cheap hotel in New York where I’ll have the great choice of sleeping on the floor in one of two rooms -- the one with my parents, or the one with Becca and Gram.”(or, Tony gets a brilliant idea.)*** Note: Bingo prompts are in the notes for each chapter ***
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Tony Stark
Comments: 47
Kudos: 352
Collections: Tony Stark Bingo Mark IV, WinterIron Week





	1. Chapter 1

When Tony walked into the coffee shop, he spotted his friends clustered around their usual table. Bucky didn’t seem to be there yet, which was too bad, and also a little weird, because on Thursdays, Bucky usually beat Tony to the shop by at least ten minutes.

Tony loved that his weird little group of friends kept odd enough hours that they could monopolize one table from the time the coffee shop opened at 5:30 in the morning until the time it closed at 11:30 at night. They rotated in and out as classes and jobs and the whims of fate dictated, but any time Tony walked into the coffee shop, there was _someone_ there, doing homework or arguing about Star Trek physics or talking someone through a dating crisis. And on the rare occasions he found himself holding down the table by himself, he rarely had to wait more than half an hour for someone to come in and join him.

Tony was rarely alone, these days. Rarely without a friend. If someone had told him, three years ago, that he’d be at the core of a group of friends too big for them to all fit in a dorm room, he’d never have believed it.

And if that someone had told him he’d have a crush on one of those friends big enough to see from orbit but that he hadn’t made a move yet... he’d have laughed them out of the state. Tony had been a lot of things in his life, but _shy_ was not one of them.

Not, apparently, until it actually _mattered_. Until he’d realized that making an unwanted move might result in damage to their friendship. It probably wouldn’t destroy it -- they’d started off on the wrong foot and both of them had fought hard to overcome that. But it could put some distance between them, at least for a while. And Tony didn’t want that. He didn’t want that even more than he wanted to get his hands into Bucky’s pants. 

It wasn’t until Tony got right up to the table that he realized Bucky _was_ there, after all.

But Bucky was not only sitting at the back of the group -- nearly anyone was hard to see past Steve and Thor -- and he had folded over, his forehead pressed against the table in an attitude of despair.

“What’s the deal with Barnes?” Tony asked as he dragged over a chair from another table. Nat and Clint scooted over to make room for him in a way that he pretended didn’t make him feel warm and amazed. “Fail an exam?”

“Worse,” Bucky groaned without lifting his head. “You know our plans for winter break?”

“Yeah?” Tony stretched it out and tried to suppress the sinking feeling in his stomach. There were a few of them who weren’t planning to go home for winter break, for one reason or another -- Tony, Bucky, Nat, Thor, and Bruce. The dorms would be closed, so they’d all decided to camp out at Tony’s apartment for the duration, making it a sort of extended party.

“My folks agreed with me that it’s too expensive for me to fly home for the holiday. But my stupid sister...”

“What’d Becca do?”

Bucky whimpered and Clint reached over to pat Bucky on the back consolingly. “She won first prize in some kind of raffle drawing at the bank.” Bucky took a breath. “An all-expenses-paid trip for four to New York City for Christmas week.”

“Oh, shit.” Across the table, Thor nodded in solemn agreement with Tony’s assessment, though he looked more amused than distraught.

“Yeah.” Bucky finally lifted his head up. There was a red mark on his forehead from being pressed on the hard table for so long. “They’re coming. Ma and Dad and Becca and Gram. And since it’s so close, they want me to drive down and meet them so we can have a _proper holiday celebration_.” He made sarcastic finger-quotes in the air around the words.

“That sucks. Wait. It sucks? I thought you were kind of bummed about not getting to see your family for the holidays.” Not that Tony really understood that. It certainly sucked for _him_ , as he’d been hoping that the pared-down circle of friends might result in some one-on-one time with Bucky, maybe a chance to feel out whether Tony’s crush might have any hope of reciprocation. 

“Yeah, but I wanted to see them _at home_ , where I could go into my room and _close the door_ when I need a break,” Bucky grumbled. “But instead it’ll be in some cheap hotel in New York where I’ll have the great choice of sleeping on the floor in one of two rooms -- the one with my parents, or the one with Becca and Gram.”

“Yikes,” Steve agreed.

“And then they’ll drag me off on all the dumb tourist stuff, and spend the whole time trying to set me up with every half-eligible guy they meet. At least at home, I’ve already rejected all the single guys with even half a chance of swinging my way,, but if we get so much as a flirty tour guide...” 

Tony smacked his hand down on the table, making the nearest several cups jump and rattle.. “I should go with you,” he announced.

“What?” Bucky stared at him.

“Sure!” Tony said. “Bring me along. Tell them I’m your boyfriend. That’ll give you an excuse to split an airbnb with me instead of having to sleep on a dubious hotel floor, you get to see your family without them trying to set you up with half of New York, and you can use me to get out of anything you don’t want to do. And I get a few days of change of scenery to work on ideas for my thesis.” Not to mention several hours in the car with Bucky, each way. Which Tony was not going to mention. “And we’ll be back in time for an epic new year’s party.” He held out his hand and tried not to wince when Thor high-fived him across the table.

“And where are Thor and Bruce and I going to stay while you two are off pretending to be joined at the hip?” Nat wondered.

“I’ll give you my key, it’ll be fine,” Tony said blithely. He hesitated, studying Nat’s face. “I’ll give _Bruce_ my key,” he corrected.

She just rolled her eyes at him, so Tony looked back at Bucky. “What do you say?”

Bucky’s eyes were wide. “Really? You’d do that for me?”

“Of course,” Tony said easily. “What are friends for?” He was a goddamned genius. What could possibly go wrong?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This fills Winteriron Week prompt: Holiday Celebration (Dec 20).
> 
> Title: Keep Me Warm (Chapter 1)  
> by @27dragons  
> Card 4027  
> Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28194459/chapters/69087888  
> Square: A5 - Fake Dating  
> Ship: Winteriron  
> Rating: T  
> Tags/Warnings: None  
> Wordcount: 1117  
> Summary:  
> “That sucks. Wait. It sucks? I thought you were kind of bummed about not getting to see your family for the holidays.”
> 
> “Yeah, but I wanted to see them at home, where I could go into my room and _close the door_ when I need a break,” Bucky grumbled. “But instead it’ll be in some cheap hotel in New York where I’ll have the great choice of sleeping on the floor in one of two rooms -- the one with my parents, or the one with Becca and Gram.”
> 
> (or, Tony gets a brilliant idea.)  
> 


	2. Chapter 2

Bucky glanced sideways at Tony for what was probably the hundredth time in the brief hour they’d been on the road. He was going to drift off the road or cause an accident or something if he couldn’t manage to keep a closer eye on the road, but he just couldn’t help it. Tony was so vivacious and energetic and funny and gorgeous--

Bucky dragged his gaze back to the front. This was like something out of a dream. He was alone. With Tony Stark. Who was going to pretend to be his boyfriend for the next four days. Bucky wondered if, just maybe, he could make a good enough showing during this trip to make a case for them being boyfriends for real.

“I really appreciate you doing this,” he said the next time Tony paused for breath.

“I told you, it’s nothing, I’m happy to do it,” Tony said, waving it off, just like he’d done the other five times Bucky had tried to express his gratitude. “I tell you what, though -- if this goes off smooth, when we get back, you can help me clean up whatever mess the others have made of my place.”

Bucky laughed. “It’s a deal.”

“You agreed to that far too easily,” Tony said. “I think you’re failing to consider-- Do you smell something?”

Bucky took a delicate sniff. “Yeah, I think-- Oh _shit_.” The check engine light went on just as pale smoke had started pouring out from under the hood of his car. “Shit, shit, _shit_.” He started maneuvering onto the shoulder.

“It’s probably nothing,” Tony consoled him. “A loose hose or something. We’ll let the engine cool down and take a look.”

“Yeah,” Bucky sighed. “I knew things were going too well.”

“You got a tool box?”

“It’s kind of minimal,” Bucky said apologetically. “Just an emergency kit.”

“Luckily, this is an emergency.” Tony grinned and punched him lightly in the shoulder. “Come on, pop the hood. It’ll cool down faster that way, and maybe we’ll be able to spot the problem.”

The problem wasn’t too hard to spot -- the smoke was pouring off the radiator. The engine was overheated.

“I swear I checked the level of radiator fluid just last week,” Bucky protested, pulling his jacket tighter around himself. The temperature had dropped sharply since they’d left campus. There was a line of storms sweeping down toward the coast, but it wasn’t supposed to reach them until the early morning, well after they’d made it to New York and checked in. The worst that would happen, he’d figured, was that he and Tony would just be stuck hanging out at the hotel with his family for the day instead of going sightseeing..

Of course, he hadn’t figured on the car breaking down.

“These older cars, stuff just happens sometimes,” Tony said. He opened Bucky’s emergency toolkit and got out a wrench, then leaned over the engine and started poking.

“Be careful, that’s still really hot.”

“It’s fine,” Tony said. “Nothing’s leaking or anything.” He leaned a little further over and did something that made a clanging sound. “Huh.”

“What?”

Tony withdrew from the engine and dropped the wrench back into the toolkit with a clang and a clatter. “I’d have to get it into a decent shop to be sure,” he hedged, “but it looks like something’s wrong with your water pump.”

“Son of a-- Any chance it’s something you can fix?”

Tony grimaced and shook his head. “Water pumps aren’t that complex. They don’t fail because something slips out of alignment. They fail because something _broke_. Which means parts -- which we don’t have.”

“Shit, shit, _shit_.”

“Okay, look, there was a sign a couple of miles back that said the next exit is in five miles. We just have to let the engine cool down again -- in this weather, it shouldn’t take too long -- and then we’ll limp it down to the exit and find a shop that can do some repairs for us. You call your folks and let them know we’ll be delayed a few hours, but we should still be able to make it to town tonight.” He glanced upward at the sky, though there was no sign of the approaching storms yet. “We can probably still beat the weather.”

Bucky nodded. “Okay. Yeah, you’re right, this is recoverable. I grew up in Iowa, I can drive in a little snow, if it comes to that. Though don’t tell my mom. She grew up in the South and has a terror of driving on ice.”

It took them two hours to go that five miles, inching down the shoulder of the road a little at a time, stopping every time the check engine light came back on. If it had been a bit warmer, Bucky would have suggested they just walk to the town and send a tow truck back for the car, but they hadn’t really dressed to be out in the cold for more than fifteen minutes or so.

Finally, they limped it off the highway and -- as luck would have it -- a little filling station/repair shop was just off the ramp.

The mechanic wouldn’t look at their engine until it had cooled, so he sent them across the street and down a ways to a diner, where they settled in for a leisurely dinner.

That would have been great, actually, if Bucky hadn’t been worried about his car and the ticking clock of the oncoming storm. But at least he got to sit across the table from Tony and pretend that when their feet and ankles bumped that it was on purpose, that they were playing footsie. That when they fed each other bits of their desserts, it was an excuse to exchange kisses by proxy, dragging his lips over the same utensil that Tony’s had touched. That they were on a date that was leading them anywhere besides back across the street to the service station to find out how much of a dent the repair was going to put in Bucky’s already-slim college fund.

They took their time over the meal -- if nothing else, it was warm and bright in the diner, and if they spent some time laughing over the kitschy holiday decorations, Bucky caught Tony’s eye drifting frequently to a little tabletop tree decorated with obviously hand-crocheted snowflakes, and Bucky couldn’t stop watching the twinkle of the lights strung across the windows.

When they made their way back across the road a couple of hours later, the mechanic -- a guy only a little older than them with the improbable name of Sherman -- shook his head at them. “Water pump, just like you thought,” he said, nodding at Tony. “Pretty easy fix, but I don’t have one in stock that’ll fit your car. Called the supplier, but they aren’t doing any more deliveries tonight. Promised to get on it first thing tomorrow, though, soon’s the roads are clear.”

“ _Tomorrow_?” Bucky blurted in dismay. “Where are we supposed to stay tonight, then?”

“There’s a couple of places in town,” Sherman said. “Probably one of ‘em will have room for you.”

Tony already had his phone out.

After half a dozen calls, he finally found one place that had a room for them, a motel on the outskirts of town. “I thought _this_ was the outskirts,” Bucky muttered, but Sherman agreed to drop them off, since it was almost time for the shop to close for the night anyway.

They grabbed their bags out of the trunk of Bucky’s car. “So there’s just one little hiccup,” Tony said as they were lugging them across the gravel shop yard to the tow truck that apparently also served as Sherman’s personal ride. “Tiny. Almost insignificant. Don’t know why I’m even bothering--”

“What is it?” Bucky interrupted.

Tony pasted on a somewhat sickly grin. “The room they have left? There’s only one bed.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This fills Winteriron Week prompt "Only One Bed" (Dec 20)
> 
> Title: Keep Me Warm (Chapter 2)  
> by @27dragons  
> Card 4027  
> Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28194459/chapters/69088383  
> Square: K5 - Car Trouble  
> Ship: Winteriron  
> Rating: T  
> Tags/Warnings: None  
> Wordcount: 1278  
> Summary: “That sucks. Wait. It sucks? I thought you were kind of bummed about not getting to see your family for the holidays.”
> 
> “Yeah, but I wanted to see them at home, where I could go into my room and _close the door_ when I need a break,” Bucky grumbled. “But instead it’ll be in some cheap hotel in New York where I’ll have the great choice of sleeping on the floor in one of two rooms -- the one with my parents, or the one with Becca and Gram.”
> 
> (or, Tony gets a brilliant idea.)


	3. Chapter 3

Bucky stared at him, and then took a deep breath. “Right. One bed, that’s... that’s not ideal. But it’s just for one night, we can probably handle it.”

“Yes, exactly,” Tony agreed. “I mean, it beats napping in the booth at the truck stop diner, anyway.”

“Well, that’s true. Those booths weren’t exactly what I’d call _plush_. Or hygienic.” Bucky adjusted the strap of his bag on his shoulder and resumed walking.

Tony took a couple of seconds to close his eyes and take a deep, slow breath. It wasn’t that he didn’t _want_ to share a bed with Bucky, it was just that he’d hoped, if that ever happened, that it would be a choice they’d both made, not something they’d been squeezed into by circumstance.

But it was fine, it was _fine_ , he could do this. He’d sleep on one side and Bucky would sleep on the other, and hopefully Tony wouldn’t do anything embarrassing like talking in his sleep and confessing all his deepest desires, or wake up rubbing his morning wood on Bucky’s thigh. Not that half a dozen other, equally humiliating scenarios hadn’t presented themselves more or less immediately after the motel clerk had told him the situation, because Tony’s brain hated him.

“You comin’?” Bucky wondered, jolting Tony out of his thoughts. He hurried to catch up, climbing up into the cab of the tow truck next to Bucky and wedging his duffle bag by his feet.

It was going to be fine. It was probably a king-sized bed; he’d probably never even know Bucky was there.

The outskirts of town turned out to be a solid twenty minutes away from the shop, and the motel that Sherman pulled up in front of looked like something out of a bad slasher movie.

There was a gas station across the street with gas prices that were nearly double what they’d paid to fill Bucky’s car up before they’d left earlier that afternoon. The station had a postage-stamp-sized convenience store attached to it with probably similarly-overpriced options. And that was it. Nothing else on the road as far as they could see in either direction, just dirt and grass and dense woods.

On the bright side, the motel’s parking lot was packed full. The clerk hadn’t been kidding about how busy they were; every unit of the long building had a car parked in front of it, and most of them showed narrow strips of light around the edge of the curtains.

The drive hadn’t really been long enough for the truck’s cab to heat up properly, but as soon as they opened the door of the tow truck to slide down to the pavement, the cold slapped them hard, almost instantly numbing in the suddenly biting wind.

They’d barely closed the tow truck door before Sherman was pulling away again, leaving them standing there, duffle bags in hand.

Bucky pulled in a deep breath and then started coughing as the cold air hit his lungs. “Fuck,” he managed after he’d recovered. “We’re going to die.”

“We’ll barricade the door,” Tony promised. “If there’s a serial killer among the guests, they’ll probably go for the easier victims.” They didn’t have much choice, anyway, did they? He headed toward the front office, and Bucky fell in behind him.

“There you are!” the clerk said as they came in. “Stark and Barnes, right?” She nodded, her greying hair threatening to fall loose from its makeshift bun. “Sherman drop you off?” She didn’t wait for them to confirm it. “He’s a good boy. Hope he’s able to get home all right.”

There was a heater behind the check-in desk, and both of them edged closer. “Why wouldn’t he?” Tony wondered.

“That storm’s going to hit any minute now,” she said sagely.

“Already? I thought it wasn’t going to really hit before midnight.”

Tony pulled out his phone. He hadn’t thought to check the weather since that morning, and then just to confirm they’d have clear weather until after they were due to arrive in New York. Granted, that original arrival time was some hours distant, now, and as soon as he opened the app, a flashing warning popped up.

“Storm,” he said, turning to show the phone to Bucky. The radar showed a heavy line of dark blue and purple that was nearly on top of them. The storm front had moved considerably faster than the original estimates, apparently. No wonder it was so damned cold out.

“S’posed to dump a good eight-nine inches on us before morning,” the clerk told them. She was typing on her computer as she talked, a static _tak-tak-tak_ of her fingernails on the keys.

“Right,” Tony said weakly. Her estimate was more favorable than the weather app’s, which was estimating closer to a foot of accumulation overnight.

“Storm’ll pass probably mid-morning,” the clerk continued, “and the plow’ll probably get out here tomorrow afternoon or the next morning. Best y’all figure on settling in for a couple days.”

He hadn’t thought of that, either. In New York, the snowplows started treating the roads well in advance of an oncoming storm, and worked pretty much straight through to keep the roads clear enough for the constant traffic. At school, they all walked everywhere, because everywhere worth going was within a mile or so of campus; they never really paid attention to the roads.

But here, they were way too far away from what passed for a town to walk it, even if it wasn’t so cold -- it would probably actually warm up a little as the storm’s insulating cloud cover moved in -- but this road was so far removed from anything of importance that it was probably low on the road crew’s priority list.

“Right,” Tony said weakly. “Great.” The universe was punishing him, he was certain. He just wasn’t sure why. He gave Bucky a grimace of a smile. “We’re stranded.”

The clerk produced a pair of magstripe card keys and handed them over. “You’re in room 115.” She pointed back out the door to show them which direction to go. “Have a nice stay.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This fills Winteriron Week prompt "Snowed In" (Dec 20)
> 
> Title: Keep Me Warm (Chapter 3)  
> by @27dragons  
> Card 4027  
> Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28194459/chapters/69088497  
> Square: T4 - Stranded  
> Ship: Winteriron  
> Rating: T  
> Tags/Warnings: None  
> Wordcount: 1021  
> Summary: “That sucks. Wait. It sucks? I thought you were kind of bummed about not getting to see your family for the holidays.”
> 
> “Yeah, but I wanted to see them at home, where I could go into my room and _close the door_ when I need a break,” Bucky grumbled. “But instead it’ll be in some cheap hotel in New York where I’ll have the great choice of sleeping on the floor in one of two rooms -- the one with my parents, or the one with Becca and Gram.”
> 
> (or, Tony gets a brilliant idea.)


	4. Chapter 4

It was already starting to snow when they stepped back outside, a light flurry of small flakes that seemed to get heavier by the second. They stung Bucky’s cheeks, and a rising wind whipped his hair into tangles. And _of course_ their room was going to be almost to the end of the long corridor. Bucky had to keep glancing down at the hand holding the room key to make sure his aching and half-numb fingers hadn’t let go of it.

“There it is, 115.” 

Tony just nodded, hunched into himself to try to keep warm. Snowflakes were clinging to his hair and eyelashes, and Bucky was hard pressed not to reach out to brush them off.

He resolutely turned back toward the door with the placard on it that read 115. He fumbled twice trying to turn the card in the right direction to feed it into the keyslot, but the lock indicator light flashed green on the first try, thank all the gods.

Bucky shoved the door open gratefully-- and then stopped.

That was not the king-sized bed that one usually saw in rented rooms that only had one bed in them. It wasn’t even a queen-sized bed. It was a damned _full_ , barely wider than Bucky’s dorm bed.

Tony bumped into him and Bucky stumbled forward a few steps in a desperate bid to keep his balance. “What the f--” Tony stopped, too, his eyes growing wide as he saw the bed.

The motel room door swung closed behind them with a gentle click.

Tony stared at the bed for another moment, then visibly pulled himself together and came the rest of the way into the room. “Right. Well. Last room in town wasn’t going to be the penthouse suite, was it?” He dropped his duffel by the flimsy desk and unzipped the top, rooting inside for a moment and coming up with a pair of sweats. “I’m going to grab a shower, unless you want it first?”

“No, go ahead,” Bucky said. “I need to call my folks and let ‘em know what’s up.” He’d texted a brief summary of the situation over dinner, with a promise to call when he knew more.

Tony grimaced sympathetically. “Right. I’ll try to be quick.” He disappeared into the bathroom, and a moment later, Bucky heard the rushing hiss of the water running.

He dropped into the desk chair and shoved his hand through his hair, staring at his phone. Several deep breaths later, he dialed his mom’s phone.

She picked up on the first ring, as if she’d been staring at it and waiting. Which she probably had. “James! Are you okay? That storm just _swooped_ in, _hours_ before it was supposed to, and--”

“Mom, take a breath,” Bucky interrupted gently. “I’m fine, we’re both fine. We found what is apparently the very last free motel room within a twenty-mile radius, we’re not going to freeze to death or anything, we’re _fine_. Just... kind of stuck. I expect it’ll be another couple of days before the car can get fixed.”

“I should think so,” his mother agreed. “I want you to stay put until they’ve got the roads cleared, you hear me? Don’t go driving on icy roads if it’s not an emergency.”

“Yeah, that’s the plan,” Bucky agreed. Though it was feeling a bit like an emergency anyway, thinking of sleeping in that narrow bed with Tony pressed up against him-- Bucky had to draw in a sharp breath to recall himself to the conversation he was having.

“-- bright side,” his mother was saying, sounding amused now instead of half-panicked. Bucky wasn’t sure it was an improvement. “You and your beau will have some time to really get to know each other.”

“Yeah,” Bucky said, eyeing the bed. “I guess we will.”

“The way someone handles adversity can tell you a lot about their suitability as a life partner,” she told him earnestly.

Bucky groaned and rolled his eyes. “Hanging up now.”

By the time Tony came out of the bathroom, Bucky had found an outlet to charge their phones with -- nowhere near the bed, because that would be too convenient, apparently -- and plugged them in. He was sitting on one side of the narrow bed and was flipping through the channels on the TV to see what was available.

“What’s the news?” Tony asked, scrubbing a towel over his hair. Bucky tried not to watch the way his sweats hung low on his hips, or to follow the path of the drops of water that escaped the towel to roll down his chest.

“Not much,” Bucky said. “My folks made it to the hotel okay and I’m pretty sure Mom would forbid us from leaving while there’s so much as a flake of snow on the ground if she thought she could get away with it. There’s wifi, but it’s shit. Also one of those tiny little coffee pots and a packet with enough coffee for one pot, which is probably also shit. There’s a Gideon Bible in the dresser and a little pamphlet for the local hiking trails, which I guess is why this place is in the middle of fucking nowhere. Tell me you packed snacks.”

“Hungry?” Tony tossed the towel back into the bathroom and made his way over to his duffel.

“Not yet, but it looks like we’re going to be here pretty much all day tomorrow, and there ain’t exactly room service. Just taking inventory for now.”

“What’d you bring?”

“Couple packs of beef jerky,” Bucky said, waving at the dresser where he’d laid out his contributions, “and Nat gave me a box of cookies right before we left, so I threw ‘em in.”

“I always knew she liked you best,” Tony said. “I have pretzels--” He pulled out a bag and tossed them up onto the dresser. “--and booze.” He held up a large bottle of vodka and an only slightly smaller bottle of rum.

“Well, that’ll probably make the coffee palatable,” Bucky said, laughing. “You packed booze for road food?”

Tony set the bottles on the dresser next to the TV and came over to sit next to Bucky on the bed. “I thought you might need a little something if your parents were being especially annoying.”

“Aw, that’s nice.” It was, in a very Tony kind of way. “What do you want to watch?”

Tony made a noncommittal noise. “I don’t care, anything but-- Wait, go back, go back!”

Bucky backed up the progression of channels. “ _Love, Actually_?” he said, incredulously. “Really?”

“It’s a Christmas movie,” Tony said defensively. “And it’s almost right at the beginning, we’ve barely missed any of it. Plus I can’t help but note that you _recognized_ it, so...”

“Yeah, okay,” Bucky said with a little grumble he didn’t actually mean. He slouched down a little -- the bed wasn’t exactly piled high with pillows -- and settled in to watch.

It wasn’t until Rowan Atkinson was hilariously drawing out the wrapping of Alan Rickman’s gift for his secretary-slash-seductress that Bucky realized Tony was sitting as far away from him on the bed as possible, practically teetering on the edge and about to fall onto the floor.

“Oh, for cryin’-- Will you get up here? I don’t bite.” He paused, considering that. “At least, not without being asked first.”

Tony huffed out something like a laugh. “Yeah, well, I didn’t want to make you uncomfortable.”

“Ain’t nothing about this entire situation that’s _comfortable_ ,” Bucky pointed out. “We might as well make the most of what we can get. Unless, I mean...” He glanced at Tony and then resolutely fixed his eyes on the TV screen. “Unless you’re the one who’s uncomfortable.”

“Why would _I_ be uncomfortable?” Bucky could practically feel Tony’s eyes on him.

“I don’t know, but you’re the one who’s halfway falling off the bed over there to avoid my gay cooties or whatever,” Bucky said before he could stop himself.

Tony actually sat up at that, twisting to glare down at Bucky. “I’m bisexual, you dick!”

Bucky grimaced. “Okay, that was out of line,” he admitted. “I just don’t have any other explanation for the space.”

Tony sighed and flopped back onto the bed, sitting closer this time. “There, happy?”

Tony’s leg was a line of warmth against Bucky’s. “Yes,” he said, still feeling a little snappish. “I just-- You’ve never avoided touching me before.”

Tony’s eyes were fixed on the movie, and he didn’t respond. After a minute, Bucky gave up and went back to watching, too.

It wasn’t until the improbably dashing Prime Minister was going door to door in search of his true love that Tony muttered, “We’ve never been alone before.”

“What?”

Tony’s cheeks were pink. “There’s always Steve or Nat or Thor or someone around. Someone to make sure I didn’t get too carried away.”

“Carried away, what does that mean?” A tiny flame of warmth in the center of Bucky’s chest suddenly flared into hope.

“Nothing, don’t worry about it, can we just--”

“Do you think there’s any way you could _possibly_ touch me _too much_?” Bucky demanded.

Tony stopped with his mouth still half-open. He slowly turned to look at Bucky again. “Wh... You mean you...” His eyes flicked from point to point over Bucky’s face, searching for some clue.

Bucky bit his lip, and it was kind of gratifying, the way Tony’s eyes were drawn to the movement, the way they darkened. Bucky’s heart was fluttering like a trapped bird, desperate for escape. Bucky pulled in a deep breath, holding it in his lungs until it ached. “If I’m wrong about this,” he promised cautiously, “I’ll sleep on the floor.”

“Wrong about wha--” Tony broke off when Bucky’s hand curled around his jaw, thumb brushing lightly, tenderly, over his cheek. His eyes grew wide and even more frantic in their search. “Bucky...”

Bucky tugged, and Tony came willingly, until Bucky could feel the puff of breath against his skin. “I’m going to kiss you now.” He gave Tony a couple of seconds to refuse, to pull away, but Tony just nodded faintly. Bucky grinned and then pressed his lips to Tony’s.

They were chapped and warm and soft, and then Tony made a soft, desperate sound and started kissing him back, and it was _perfect_.

By the time they broke apart, the movie credits were rolling and Tony was in Bucky’s lap. Bucky leaned his forehead against Tony’s and panted.

“Do you think,” Tony wondered breathlessly, “that your mom would believe we were stuck here for the whole week?”

Bucky laughed and snuck another kiss, and another after that. “No one I’d rather be stranded in a snowstorm with.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title: Keep Me Warm (Chapter 4)  
> by @27dragons  
> Card 4027  
> Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28194459/chapters/69088566  
> Square: A3 - FREE  
> Ship: Winteriron  
> Rating: T  
> Tags/Warnings: None  
> Wordcount: 1784  
> Summary: “That sucks. Wait. It sucks? I thought you were kind of bummed about not getting to see your family for the holidays.”
> 
> “Yeah, but I wanted to see them at home, where I could go into my room and _close the door_ when I need a break,” Bucky grumbled. “But instead it’ll be in some cheap hotel in New York where I’ll have the great choice of sleeping on the floor in one of two rooms -- the one with my parents, or the one with Becca and Gram.”
> 
> (or, Tony gets a brilliant idea.)


End file.
